There currently are a large number of art, craft and trade shows and exhibitions at various geographical locations throughout the country. Many of these shows and exhibitions are of short duration, typically lasting for only a day or more. Since many of these shows and exhibitions have become very popular, it has become commonplace and profitable for vendors of art, craft and trade items to travel to several of these shows and exhibitions each year for the purpose of displaying and selling their goods.
In addition to transporting their goods from show to show, these vendors must set up displays to exhibit their goods at each show location. Due to the time and cost considerations associated with building satisfactory units to present their goods, many vendors have been relegated in the past to exhibiting their goods in less than adequate displays.
It has been proposed to construct exhibition displays on mobile trailers, and to use the trailers to transport the exhibit displays from one exhibition site to another. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,874 a mobile exhibition unit constructed on a lorry trailer is disclosed. The lorry trailer of this prior art mobile exhibition unit has sidewalls that are pivoted about a horizonal pivot at the bottom of the trailer. When pivoted, the sidewalls are moved to a horizonal position that is substantially planar with the floor of the trailer. In this position, the sidewall surfaces cooperate with the floor of the trailer to form an expanded exhibition floor.
While mobile-exhibition trailers of this nature undoubtedly have significant uses, they are not practical for small vendors who have limited budgets and who most commonly display their goods in very limited display spaces. In order to be practical for small vendors, a mobile display unit must be relatively inexpensive, relatively small and easy to assemble and disassemble at exhibit sites. Furthermore, the height of the exhibit floor in the above-described mobile exhibit trailer is unacceptable for the small spaces in which many small vendors display their goods.